Interstitial lung disease (ILD) describes a group of disorders characterized by inflammation and/or fibrosis that is generally progressive and irreversible, leading to organ failure. ILD is a terrible disease having huge impacts on patient’s quality of life and on our health care systems, yet our comprehension of the disease mechanisms is scarce, and the treatment options are limited and ineffective. To address this important unmet research challenge, in 2019 we have formed the Fibrosis Resolution Research Network (FibRNet). Our mission is to develop therapies to reverse fibrosis in the lungs, by creating tools and models to study physiopathologic events and exploring effective RNA- and cell-based therapeutic strategies.
To further operationalize the FibRNet research program, we request CFI infrastructure supporting four interconnected pillars, to implement the following 5-year multidisciplinary research objectives:
Clinical phenotyping and biobanking: Build capacity for enriched clinical phenotyping, clinical data, and biospecimen biobanking and tracking.
Genomics: Develop a pipeline to study fibrotic tissues using single-cell omics technologies, with the aim of identifying markers of progression to fibrosis and potential therapeutic targets.
Modeling:
Create mouse and lung-on-a-chip models coupled with phenotyping pipelines to study the development of lung fibrosis, and for pre-clinical testing of therapeutic interventions.
Interventional strategies:
Enhance our capabilities to design, produce, quality control and deliver RNA- and cell-based therapeutic strategies to block and resolve lung fibrosis.
